See/Hear

Samuel Barber is considered to be one of the greatest twentieth­ century American composers. While not many in number, his compositions are considered to be masterpieces; Summer Music for wind quintet is no exception. Written in 1956 as a commission by the Detroit Chamber Music Society, the work immediately became a permanent fixture in the standard repertoire for wind quintet.

Summer Music has a very restless quality that is well established in the first few notes. A languid melody played by horn and bassoon is occasionally interrupted by rather violent outbursts from the other winds. As the piece winds its way through several distinct sections, the tense and restless subtext is never far away. Each instrument has a chance to express itself throughout the piece. Barber seems to know intuitively what emotion to assign to each instrument and thus capitalizes on its tonal strengths.

Barber's music has an inevitability to it that seems to come from a supreme confidence. This confidence came at a very young and tender age. When pressed by his parents to be more like a typical athletic American boy, the then-9-year-old Barber decided he needed to write his mother a letter. He wrote:

Dear Mother: I hove written this to tell you my worrying secret. Now don't cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlet [sic]. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I'm sure. I'll ask you one more thing­ Don't ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football. –Please– Sometimes I've been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very).

Thankfully, this curious little boy knew himself well enough to insist that he be allowed to become the great composer he was meant to be.

– Joe Berger